I live in Convoy, Co Donegal, where I’ve bred, produced and competed horses since I left school. My late father, Harry, and my mother, Jean, were always interested in horses and kept broodmares. It was nearly all Irish Draught mares on the farm, they had a thoroughbred mare too and then started breeding jumpers. And of course they bought me Carnone Dancing Queen, Pacino Amiro’s dam, so they’re all part of the story.

I started off jumping ponies for Brian Taggart and later on, worked for Andrew Davies, Florian Meyer zu Hartum and Peter Smyth. I set up my Green Hill Farm here at home when I was 19, with a nudge from Peter!